"Well that's why I refused to let this hardware out. I knew it wasn't safe, but the others wanted to fix only a few of the bugs and ship it out for beta. Although I told them not to, one of them must have shipped it out behind my back, and that was hacked into creating this nightmare. The best part is, once I get out of here, my life is over. I'm ruined. My job, my house, my reputation will all be taken away from me." Zeth said in a panicing voice.

Leo was uncomfortable. He usually just kept on playing till 3, considering he had nothing to wake up for anyway. But if everyone else is sleeping, there's nothing else to do.Fairy wanted a seperate sleeping grounds away from the boys, but she'll just have to hope none of them are pervs. She tried to encourage Zeth. "I'm sure there's something for you, right? After we deal with this problem, maybe you could fix it up and it'll play better? After a bit of thinking what she just said, she shook her head rapidly and added, "not that the game is bad, though!"

"It was supposed to be a dream world come true for all who played. The idea of Total Immersion VR was supposed to exist, but not like this. You were supposed to be able to log on and off at will, but the world would move on without you. All the NPCs are unique; they each have their own lives... It was my dream. Now it's my nightmare." Zeth said. "If I could make it up to you people, I would... If I can, tell me." He said.

Scarlette noticed her hair had gotten slightly longer, and changed to her own hair color."Joy." She stroked her hair and looked up to Zeth. "How long is this transformation going to take?" She still looked like a majority of Sky'd.

Leo es sleepin on groundFairy patted Zeth on the head. "We don't blame you, it's not like this was your fault. Don't fret over it, k?" She saw Sky walking off somewhere, but decided not to question it.

Scarlette walked into the forest, looking down as she saw her body slowly transform into what she recognized as herself. "Ugh. How am I going to play this game as my weak self?" I wonder what they'll think when they see I'm actually a girl...She looked down at the ground, and tied her clothes tighter around her, as she shrunk from a 6'2" 205 lb man-giant to a 5'7", 127 lb girl.She tied a knot around her waist to keep Sky'd's white, puffy shirt in place. She also cut off some of the length of the sleeves so they came down to her forearm. The cargo pants had to be cut to a length slightly below above her ankles. They remained her of a pair of really puffy slacks. She tied the ankles around so it fit better. She kept the bandanna on her forehead. She lifted her axe. "Hmm." At least my real world physicality doesn't affect how much I can lift in a game... She sliced the air a few times.

She shook her head.And I thought this game would be fun. Reminds me of Tsukasa...

She emerged from the forest, slowly walked back toward the fire.As she approached the fire, she gradually became visible. When she reached the flames, she stood there for a moment, her right arm grasping onto her left, her head looking into the fire.Her face didn't reveal much emotion, except for a slight awkward look. Her eyes were somewhat sad looking.

She silently sat back down on the ground around the fire, her eyes not leaving the fire.

(I can already sense the scene Scorp wants to use)Fairy pointed to Leo's body, lying on the floor. "Can someone pick him up please? I don't think it's healthy to sleep in that position..."She walked over to the tent, and curled up near the side.

"OK, goodnight, Nayami!" Zeth said as he moved the fallen lump of humanity into a tent.

"Now," he said. "Sky'd. You're now an agorophobe. You don't trust others or like being out here, so you'd rather sleep alone and spend a lot of time by yourself. Doing this will help you keep your cover, OK?" Zeth said, but he heard a rustling in the bushes.

"No..." He said in horror. "That's another group of players making a camp... They've made more beta testers..? This is wrong... We need to keep quiet and douse the fire now." he said as he doused the fire and threw their world into darkness. The other group passed them by without notice. All of them, save for one, who's eyes met Sky'd's. But they all walked off.

Scarlette went into the tent with him. She smiled at Zeth. "It's okay Zeth, I'm not gonna hide being a girl from the rest of the group. I don't look like Sky'd anymore so it doesn't matter."

As she kept quiet as the beta testers passed, she was surprised the other beta tester could see her while in cover. Her eyes grew wide for a second, as if shocked, and instinctively reached down for her Weapon, but the beta tester just kept walking. She whispered to Zeth. "One of them looked straight at me... Why are we hiding from them?"

"Because we can't trust them. If they think attacking us will get them an item, they'll do just that, and they may not know that death is final, they may have been lied to or not told anything before they were given the Betas." Zeth said.

"And by the way, my real name is Seth. That's a secret only you and Shanna know, but I figured it would be nice to tell you a secret since you're... Y'know... Let's just get some sleep." He said.